And the Children Shall Lead (episode)
A group of children on the distant Federation outpost Triacus are possessed by an evil spirit that convinces them to kill their parents and then commandeer the Enterprise. Summary Teaser The ''Enterprise'' arrives to investigate occurrences on the Federation outpost Triacus, where Captain Kirk discovers all of the adult people on the outpost have mysteriously committed mass suicide. Even more oddly, the children on Triacus seem totally oblivious to the event, continuing to play games as if nothing has happened. Act One McCoy theorizes that the children's behaviour may be a psychological defense mechanism against a traumatic event, while Kirk and Spock both realize the colony has been attacked in some way, with the children deliberately excluded from the attack for an as-yet-unknown reason. An unexplained tricorder reading leads Kirk and Spock into a nearby cave, where Kirk is almost ovewhelmed by feelings of anxiety which subside when they leave the cave. Kirk has the children beamed aboard the Enterprise, where Nurse Chapel serves them ice cream from the food synthesizer in the arboretum.While on board, they react with hostility to any questioning about what happened to their parents . When the children are left to themselves, they chant and an ancient alien claiming to be an angel appears, congratulating them on their good work for getting rid of the adults on Triacus and telling them that they must take control of the Enterprise and make way for Marcos XII. Act Two ]] The children, with the alien's help, are able to exercise psychological control over adults. With this they manage to make Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, Scotty, several other crewmen, and even Spock for a short time go along with their command of the ship, employing various methods. For example, at first Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura believe that they can see Triacus on the viewscreen, even though they are no longer orbiting the planet. Kirk and Spock are the last to realize the ship has left orbit around Triacus; as a result, two security guards are accidentally beamed into space. When Kirk and Spock make their way to the bridge, they come in as the children summon the Gorgon, revealing the episode's antagonist to Kirk for the first time. Act Three Oddly, the Gorgon does not address or seem to acknowledge Kirk; the "Friendly Angel" merely warns the children that their machinations have been discovered. Kirk makes the crew realize that they have left Triacus, and the fears change: Sulu believes that they cannot alter course because if they do the ship will be destroyed by the rings of swords they are "flying" through. The children then work their "magic" on Kirk and Spock; briefly taking over Spock and unleashing Kirk's greatest fear: losing command of his ship. Spock, apparently through Vulcan mind techniques, frees himself of the children's control and gets Kirk off the bridge to help him overcome his fear. They try to take control of the ship through engineering, but Scotty and his redshirts force them out. Outside engineering, Chekov and two security personnel corner Kirk and Spock, telling them that Starfleet has ordered their arrest; when Kirk resists, Chekov threatens to shoot him. Act Four Luckily, they are able to subdue the delusional men through a few well-placed nerve pinches and some more traditional fighting. Kirk and Spock return to the bridge, where they summon the Gorgon themselves by replaying a recording of the children's chant, and then challenge him. They show the children footage of themselves on Triacus, playing with their parents, and the children suddenly realize what they have done and begin to cry.Without the children's support, the Gorgan starts to morph into its true form. The Gorgan turns out to not be a "friendly angel", but a grotesque being with a face of drooping flesh. At this point, McCoy suddenly reappears on the bridge after disappearing for the middle acts, happy that the children are finally showing their grief. Whether or not he even knows the conflict that has been taking place for control of the ship is unknown, but all's well that ends well. Log entries * [[Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2268#The Triacus incident|Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2268]] * Starnes Expedition Party log Memorable quotes "Humans do have an amazing capacity for believing what they choose and excluding that which is painful." : - Spock to Kirk, on the children's lack of grief "Parents like stupid things." : - Don, on the Triacus expedition "It'll spoil your dinner." "See what I told you? They all say it." : - Kirk and Tommy, as Tommy asks for more ice cream "Hail, hail, fire and snow. Call the angel, we will go. Far away, for to see, friendly Angel come to me." : - Tommy, Mary, Don, Steve and Ray, summoning Gorgan "Evil does seek to maintain power by suppressing the truth." "Or by misleading the innocent." : - Spock and McCoy, on what killed the Starnes Exploration Party "But most legends have their basis in fact, Spock." : - Kirk, after Spock informs him about the legend of Triacus "Without followers, evil cannot spread." : - Spock to Kirk, on the dangers that the children pose "Death to you all!" : - Gorgan s last words Background information Production timeline * Story outline by Edward J. Lakso, . * Story outline, . * Story outline, . * Teleplay, . * Teleplay, . * Teleplay, . * First draft script, . * Filmed late June 1968 and early July 1968. * Score recording, Story and production * This episode borrows elements and concepts from several sources, including Greek mythology (the ), the old testament (the ), and puritanical/colonial witchery (the s). http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/and_the_children_shall_lead.htm * It is never explained how Kirk knew to refer to the Friendly Angel as "the Gorgan." Based on early drafts of the script, and in a bit of sloppy editing, episode writer Edward J. Lakso alternated between the various names, explaining why it appeared and stuck so late in the episode. A deleted scene had revealed that Tommy told Kirk the name, however, this scene took place in the script after Kirk used the name. http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/and_the_children_shall_lead.htm Performers * The idea to cast noted attorney Melvin Belli as Gorgan came when his son, Caesar Belli was cast as Steve. Producer Fred Freiberger hoped that the presence of Belli will boost ratings, which ultimately failed and Freiberger realized, it should've been more appropriate to cast an actor in the role.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3YvbJa2OP4&p=67879393F5D54308&playnext=1&index=75 * Brian Tochi is one of a very few actors, along with Phil and Iona Morris in and Clint Howard in , who appeared in TOS as a child and was later cast in one of the new series or movies. Tochi and Pamelyn Ferdin were later reunited on , a live-action Saturday morning television series produced by Filmation which aired on CBS from 1977 to 1979. Sets and props * This episode is the first appearance of the set piece depicting the entrance to the Gorgan's cave. It would be seen again in many third season episodes, including , , and . * The arboretum set was originally built for , but would become a deleted scene due to time constraints. It was later modified for the arboretum that appeared in . http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/and_the_children_shall_lead.htm * During one scene on the bridge, Kirk tries to give orders to Mr. Leslie, but his words are garbled. If the audio for this scene is played in reverse, Kirk can be heard to say, "Remove Lieutenant Uhura and Mr. Spock from the bridge. Confine them to quarters. Did you hear me? Take Mr. Sulu to his quarters. He's relieved of duty. Remove Lieutenant Uhura and Mr. Spock from the bridge. Confine them to quarters. Take Mr. Sulu to his quarters, I said. (garbled) Mr. Spock from the bridge. Confine him to quarters. Mr. Leslie, take Mr. Sulu to his quarters. He's relieved of duty." * The attire worn by the children in this episode was designed by William Ware Theiss. Original sketches of the "playsuits" worn by Tommy, Don and Steve appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook (pg. 155) * The dresses worn by the two female members of the Starnes Expedition Party were also created by Theiss, and were previously worn by Janet Wallace in . (Star Trek: The Original Series Sketchbook, pg. 135) * Professor Starnes and the other male colonists wore jumpsuits left over from , which were reused many times during the series. Continuity * This is the only episode of the original series in which we see the fully fledged United Federation of Planets flag. Previous appearances, such as , simply used the pre-existing flag. Remastered information "And the Children Shall Lead" was the twenty-sixth remastered episode of the The Original Series to air. It premiered in syndication the weekend of and aside from the standard CGI replacement footage of the Enterprise, this episode most notably featured new effects shots of the planet Triacus. File:Triacus.jpg|Original Triacus... File:Triacus, remastered.jpg|...and its remastered counterpart. :The next remastered episode to air was . Apocrypha * In James Blish's novelization of this episode, Sulu is terrified by the sight of missiles on the viewscreen, not swords. * The Gorgon also played a feature role in Greg Cox's Q-Continuum trilogy of Next Generation novels published in 1998. He is part of a powerful gang of interstellar evil-doers along with the God-imposter from Star Trek V and the entity from "Day of the Dove.". Not much is really added to the Gorgon's origin and motivations, as Cox is content to emphasize Gorgon's modus operandi of using children to cause chaos. Gorgon's placement on Triacus is also explained. Video and DVD releases *Original US Betamax release: . * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 31, catalogue number VHR 2383, . * US VHS release: . * UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.2, . * Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 30, . * As part of the TOS Season 3 DVD collection. * As part of the TOS-R Season 3 DVD collection. * Links and references Starring * William Shatner as Capt. Kirk Also starring * Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock :And: * DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy Co-starring * Craig Hundley as Tommy Starnes :And: * James Wellman as Professor Starnes :And: * Melvin Belli as Gorgan * James Doohan as Scott * Majel Barrett as Nurse Chapel * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * George Takei as Sulu * Walter Koenig as Chekov * Pamelyn Ferdin as Mary * Caesar Belli as Steve * Mark Robert Brown as Don * Brian Tochi as Ray * Louie Elias as 1st Technician Uncredited co-stars * Paul Baxley as Freeman * William Blackburn as Hadley * Frank da Vinci as Vinci * Dick Dial as Security Guard #2 * Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli * Jay Jones as 2nd Technician * Jeannie Malone as a yeoman * Eddie Paskey as Leslie * Frank da Vinci as Brent (stock footage) * Unknown performers as the three female and three male members of the Starnes Exploration Party. References angel; anxiety; Auxiliary Control; bacteria; bee; bridge-control monitor; bridge monitor screen; bridge navigation system; cherry; child specialist; chocolate; chocolate wobble; coconut; cyalodin; Epsilon Indi system; evaluation laboratory; Federation; fire; food card;freeze tag; Friendly Angel; food synthesizer; general; God; ice cream; Lacunar amnesia; Marcos XII; mass suicide; medical officer; mental depression; peach; pistachio; population; professor; scientist; snow; Starbase 4; Starfleet Command; Starnes Exploration Party; "Ring Around the Rosie"; Starfleet; suicidal anxiety; swarm; tape; Triacus; Triacus marauders; United Federation of Planets (UFP); vanilla; Wilkins External links * *"And the Children Shall Lead" review at The Agony Booth |next= |lastair= |nextair= |lastair_remastered= |nextair_remastered= }} de:Kurs auf Markus 12 es:And the Children Shall Lead fr:And the Children Shall Lead ja:TOS:悪魔の弟子達 nl:And the Children Shall Lead pl:And the Children Shall Lead Category:TOS episodes